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HomeMy WebLinkAbout111822 FW_ KPTZ Listener Questions for Monday_ November 21_ 2022 BOCC Update ________________________________ From: Lynn Sorensen Sent: Friday, November 18, 2022 12:52:21 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) To: Allison Berry; allison.berry@clallamcountywa.gov; Willie Bence; Greg Brotherton; Kate Dean; Heidi Eisenhour; jeffbocc; KPTZ VTeam Subject: KPTZ Listener Questions for Monday, November 21, 2022 BOCC Update ________________________________ ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. ________________________________ County Commissioners, Dr Allison Berry, and Willie Bence, Please see the KPTZ listener questions listed below (collected since the last BOCC update, 10/24/22) for the next update on Monday, November 21, 2022. Thank you, Lynn Sorensen KPTZ Virus Watch Team Questions for Dr Allison Berry: 1. My husband and I listen to EVERY Monday morning commissioner mtg. If we miss at time of mtg (rare) we pull up the recording and listen later. We strongly encourage continuation of a Monday morning state of our regions public health issues. It’s a great opportunity to reach thousands of people who’ve established the pattern of thoughtful listening. “We’re closer to the start than to the end of what there is to know” As Dr Locke says, we’re in late act 2 and there’s another to go for Covid. We’re are on the knife edge of this winter/year’s respiratory infection wave. Now is the time to prepare for the predictable and unknown crises to come. We need to keep on the guard. 2. I completed a series of MRNA vaccines with a J&J booster about a year ago. I had a bad reaction to the moderna vaccine so don't want to get the MRNA as my second booster. Do I have any other options for a second booster? J&J is not recommended and the health department said I can't get Novavax as a second booster. 3. Dr. Theresa Tam, the chief public health doctor up in Canada, has advised the Canadian provinces to consider re-implementing mask mandates to help reduce the strain on hospitals overwhelmed with infected Canadians. Is Washington considering a similar return to mask mandates? Or is the virus behaving differently on our side of the border? https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/masks-covid-flu-rsv-1.6647388 4. We are a 55+ Senior Co-housing Community of 40 residents in Port Townsend. We have followed your guidance throughout the Covid pandemic, getting vaccinated & boosted, & closing our Common House for shared meals for many months during the height of the pandemic; we have since installed 5 air purifiers in our Common House. As the vaccines became available, our Health & Safety Team reached out to you & were enabled to reopen for once a week Members-only shared meals, which have nourished us as a community. Now that we are in “endemic” phase, we are wanting to invite vaccinated adult children & guests of our Members to join us for a meal when they are visiting our community. We have until now required non-members to be vaccinated & masked if they are coming into our common spaces, which has meant they cannot join us for a meal. We have noticed that the cases of Covid that have arisen in our community have been after a Member has traveled. Our policy has been that after travel, Members should isolate for 5 days after their return & do a rapid test if any symptoms arise, reporting positive results to the Health Dept. We have asked Members to retest until negative & to wear a mask in common ares for 5 more days. This policy has seemed to serve us well. Once again we’d be very grateful for your guidance about how we might revise our policy to enable Members who have travelled to re-join community life sooner & vaccinated non-members to join us for meals. What are your most current recommendations relative to isolation & masking? It feels especially challenging to know how to welcome vaccinated guests to move through our common areas unmasked & to share a meal with us if they have used public transportation to get to Port Townsend & are only planning to be in our community for a few days… 5. I heard there are two new strains of COVID that aren't covered by the latest vaccinations. Is that true? I was just finally "coming out" and going into church, restaurants, plays (sometimes wearing a mask, if lots of people and not much ventilation.) But now I wonder if I should back off from that again? I am 70 y.o. and live alone and the isolation is getting to be unbearable, but I also don't want to get COVID if I can help it. What do you advise? (I have had 5 COVID shots and a flu shot). Do I need to revert to masking for ANYTHING indoors? 6. If a person were to just get ONE shot this fall, and they have been routinely getting a flu shot, would the flu shot by itself be a good idea, or would it be smarter to get the bi-valent booster instead.